In the birthplace of the Progressive Era, things aren’t as progressive as they used to be.

At the turn of the last century, Wisconsin nurtured ideas like workers’ compensation, progressive tax reform, direct election of U.S. senators, breaking up monopolies, utility regulation, and other far-reaching reforms. It was a union stronghold.

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Now its legislature is dominated by conservative Republicans with a margin of almost 2-1 in both chambers. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights in 2011. Wisconsin went for Donald Trump in 2016.

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That’s the political environment queer public school teacher and union president Angelina Cruz is walking into when she becomes the new Democratic state representative from Racine in January. She faces no opposition in this week’s election.

Cruz, 45, is proudly progressive; her two big issues are public education and labor rights, “obviously,” she says. Healthcare for Wisconsinites is another, with access to gender-affirming and mental healthcare “two pieces that are really important to our community.”

Cruz spoke from her home in Racine, where it was “about 75 degrees and sunny, which is really unusual for Wisconsin at this time of year.”

“It’s kind of disturbing,” she said, “but also kind of nice.”

LGBTQ Nation: You grew up in the Village of Caledonia, a largely rural area along the shore of Lake Michigan. There’s a beautiful historic lighthouse on the water, and it looks like an ideal place for a kid to call home. What was your favorite thing to do there in the summer growing up?

Angelina Cruz: Oh, I was outside quite a bit, swimming, biking, playing baseball, just sort of getting in the mix with three brothers. So those are my favorite things to do in the summer. I mean, here you don’t have many months to be outside, right? So, like when it’s good to be outside, you better be outside and enjoy it.

You’re the granddaughter of Mexican migrant workers who settled in Wisconsin, and you’ll be the first Latina state rep from Racine in the Wisconsin Legislature when you’re sworn in in January. What was the balance your family struck between assimilation and honoring their Latin American heritage when they arrived in the state, and what effect did that have on you?

My grandfather refused to speak English, though he knew English, so only Spanish was spoken with my dad. My mom grew up without Spanish being spoken at home. And my parents made the decision, pretty much, to raise us like white kids, is how I like to describe it. They sent us to parochial school and felt like it was really important for us to assimilate and have that experience so that we could be successful.

And so I think in many ways, it sort of created a little bit of separation between our Mexican culture and just like an American culture. I’ve said to people, I’m trapped sort of in this weird gray area where me and my brothers, we’re not white people, but also we’re not Mexican enough to be Mexican. And I don’t think that is a truly unique experience in this country, but that has been mine for the most part.

You started out as a fifth-grade teacher. 1) Are you smarter than a fifth grader? And 2) how do you describe kids at that age, that sweet spot between childhood and their teenage years?

Oh my gosh. Fifth grade, I will say to anybody who’s going to ask around here, is the best grade. I would tell my fifth graders — because it’s elementary school and elementary school teachers teach everything — I would joke with my students that I know everything (laughing). They played along because they were sweet and kind, but I think it’s a great age.

I think they’re old enough to really be receptive to a lot of experiences and learning just as much as they can. They’re just sort of starting to really drill down on their critical thinking skills, so you can do a lot more with them, and they still want to please adults, right? So it’s just like this nice balance. But they’re also figuring out who they are. It’s fun to help them understand that it’s okay to make mistakes, like even as you get older and become an adult, that is the thing that we all do. It’s what you do with the mistakes that you make. So I have a tender spot for fifth graders. They’re the best.

You describe yourself as an Act 10 teacher. What is that?

Act 10 was state legislation passed in Wisconsin in 2011 that stripped public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights. Public school teachers descended on the Capitol in 2011 in the “Wisconsin Uprising” to protest, but unfortunately, the law passed. I cite that as sort of a point in my story arc, because it really sort of shifted what my focus was, in terms of my activism and where I am today.

I had always kind of nominally been involved in local politics, but I took it so personally that someone would go after teachers who like — I mean, breaking news, but none of us make a lot of money. It was a bogeyman argument that our governor at the time, Scott Walker, was making in terms of public sector workers having “Cadillac benefits” and making all this money, and they were going to balance the state budget on the backs of working-class people. So I really got politically active.

You come to electoral politics after eight years as president of your teachers’ union. What’s prepared you in that job for your work as a legislator?

That’s a great question. I think really honing in on the ability to come to mutual understanding with people that you don’t necessarily always agree with. That could be a little dicey, because I’m the president of the teachers’ union and I don’t intend to step down. I will be serving as the only union president in the Assembly when I actually take office.

Your predecessor in your redrawn district is a Republican who’s running for another term from another newly drawn district next door to yours. How cooperative has he been about putting his old constituents in your hands, and what does that entail?

I don’t find him to be extraordinarily communicative. I sat next to him for an entire panel, maybe two weeks ago, and the guy wouldn’t even look at me. So yeah. I have the most diverse district in Racine, it covers most of the city proper, and he’s not reflective of the diversity in the city, is the very kind way I will phrase that.

You describe yourself as queer. How do you define that?

That is a good question. My experience as a queer person — (laughing). Let’s just say this: I’ve always been super-adjacent to the LGBTQ community, always and forever. My best friend is transgender. Like, I’ve just always been really entrenched in the community, but my partner I’ve been with for the past three years is the first woman that I’ve ever been with, and so, I don’t know. You’re the first person that asked me this, and I’m having a hard time articulating it.

I think I gravitate towards the label queer because it feels less boxed in than saying I’m a lesbian, because I don’t know that I entirely identify as a lesbian. I’ve been with men, but I also don’t feel comfortable calling myself bisexual, for whatever reason. So I just feel like queer is a kinder, more inclusive term for me to use while I figure it out, if that makes any sense at the age of 45 years (laughing). I hope that sort of did not sound completely rambly.

Following on that, what role does your identity play in your campaign, or has it?

I mean, it has. I think the intersection of me being queer and Latina has really broadened people’s level of comfort in approaching me with talking about whatever. When I talk about representation mattering, I think there’s a sincerity that people feel when I’m saying these things, whether it’s being queer, but also Latina in a state like Wisconsin, which is very — it’s a very white place.

I can’t remember who I was interviewed by, but it was the first time I found out that Wisconsin was running the largest block of LGBTQ candidates in the country, and I was like, “Well, what the hell? How did I not know that?” But that feels really exciting, too, because when I think of Wisconsin, I think of white people and I think a straight people. Like, it just does not feel like an inclusive environment.

Maybe this is our chance to sort of shift the momentum in terms of being a more inclusive state for everybody, especially if I’m looking at it through the lens of a public school teacher, which pretty much informs everything I do. I feel super obligated to be protective of students, and I think our LGBTQ+ population of students really need some extra love and protection right now.

You mentioned the big slate of LGBTQ+ candidates. Two of those are Tammy Baldwin, who’s in a very tight race with her Trump-endorsed opponent Eric Hovde, and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan. What example do you take from them?

Tammy Baldwin and Mark Pocan, I have always had great admiration for the two of them. I just think they’re like genuine, stand-up human beings in general. It’s really hard to see what’s going on in the media with the two of them in Wisconsin, just being inundated with negativity. I know it’s that way for everybody right now, but holy cow.

I’ve been doing doors with people who are undecided voters, and I came across a 91-year-old woman. I’m like, “Hey, Margaret, how you doing? I’m here to talk to you about the election.” She was like, “I already voted. I voted for Donald Trump.” That’s when I should have just been like, “Okay, bye.” But I asked her, “Why did you vote for Donald Trump?” And she unpacked her reasons, but I started asking her, “Okay, well, let’s talk about down ticket. What about Tammy Baldwin?”

And she was like, “Oh, yeah, I voted for Tammy Baldwin.” And I was like, “What? Okay, help me to understand that?” She was like, “Tammy Baldwin is amazing. She does her work, she talks to people. She’s all over the state, connecting with constituents. There’s no reason that I wouldn’t have voted for her.” It’s just like, that’s Tammy Baldwin. She’s really good at connecting with people where they’re at.

Your district is a few miles south of Milwaukee, host for the Republican National Convention in July. Donald Trump described it as “a horrible city,” infested with crime, and then declared, “I love Milwaukee” after it went public. How does that episode describe Trump and how will it affect his prospects in Wisconsin in the election?

I mean, I just think that we’re watching like a human being that is in complete decline. I don’t know. It feels as though, based upon observations, that he is in some sort of state of dementia. That being said, like, I don’t want to make light of that. It is going to be a razor-thin margin in Wisconsin, which is why I’m spending all of my free time knocking on doors and talking to people. There are still people who I encounter on the doors who say, “I don’t know, it’s going to be a game-time call,” which is alarming.

But I think the effect that Donald Trump has had with his rhetoric, it’s a constant vomitous stream of lies and disinformation and misinformation. This is why I have to knock on doors and talk to people about what’s really going on, because if you leave it for them to sort it out on their own, with what’s on TV or social media, I can understand why people are so confused.

You posted a selfie with vice presidential nominee Tim Walz a few days ago. How was the event, and did you have a chance to talk policy with him? Also, do you agree with Tucker Carlson that Walz might be gay and living a lie and pulling one over on his family and the American public?

I had not heard what Tucker Carlson said. Sometimes it’s good to just be out on doors constantly.

Yes, it was an incredible event. It was standing-room only, and it was really inspiring. He was lovely, we shook hands. He said, “You’re a public school teacher. Thank you for your service. This must be a late night for you.” I mean, it was like 7 p.m. or something. And I was like, “It is getting late, sir.”

I don’t even know what to say about Tucker Carlson, except the obsession that conservative men have with the LGBTQ community, and women for that matter — I find it really disturbing. Like, what is his objective in making such an accusation? They have a bizarre obsession with controlling the aspects of other people’s lives in amazingly minute detail. It’s just weird— Tim Walz thing. It’s weird.

What can you share about your partner?

We’ve been together going on three years. She’s a photographer. She lives in my building. We accidentally met in the elevator, which is like so rom-com, right? Like, as I was bringing my groceries up — because I never ride the elevator — we just happened to converge that one day. We both have our own separate units and I’ve got people asking, “Are you ever gonna move in together?” And we’re like, “Why ruin a good thing if you don’t have to?”

You list climate as one of your legislative priorities. What’s the single most important thing the world should do to address the climate crisis?

Oh, good Lord. I mean, popular answer, but we need to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, I think is a good starting point.

Would you support mandatory national service for young people in the military or some other form of public service of their choosing, like the Peace Corps or Teach for America.

I do believe public service is important. It’s a way to more deeply connect with the community that you live in. I mean, mandatory? I think it’s something that could be built into curriculum at a certain age. But yeah, that’s an interesting question.

What are you most looking forward to as the new state rep for Wisconsin District 62?

I’m most looking forward to challenging the existing norms in the State House. Like, I’m a brown queer woman, the first ever from the city of Racine, and just sort of challenging people’s perceptions of what that means and working with people to get some really positive things done, for not just Racine, but for people across the state.

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